In an unprecedented move since the beginning of his musical career almost three decades ago, this weekend Death Cab for Cutie and Postal Service frontman Ben Gibbard cut back his signature long curtain of sideswept bangs to see his fans with his own eyes for the first time.
“Whoa, so there ARE a lot of you,” said a woozy Gibbard before a hometown Seattle crowd at Climate Pledge Arena, sporting a combed-back hairstyle on stage for the first time in his entire career. “I mean, it always sounded like it and looked like it when I clipped my bangs back every now and then to look at my bank account, but I was just always kind of afraid to look.”
After 20 years of solidifying the 2003 albums Transatlanticism and Give Up as classics, Gibbard said he finally just got curious enough to see who the hell all these people were making his legendary career possible. Fans at the Seattle concert said they felt the gratitude.
“I mean, honestly the direct eye contact from him was a little unsettling for us too, but I guess at some point you have to look directly into the eyes of people you love,” said fan Shelly Pikes. “That or immediately avert your eyes to Jenny Lewis, who still has long bangs, Thank God.”
At press time, fans who did not escape direct eye contact with Gibbard’s piercing, blue eyes had reportedly been hypnotized into, long after the show, following him into the dark.
